PEORIA — It was a tale of two District 150s at a League of Women Voters-sponsored candidate forum Saturday.

Ask incumbent Laura Petelle, an attorney and former Illinois Central College philosophy teacher, and she'll say that after a five-year term on the board there's more to accomplish but that "I'm excited about the progress that we've made in District 150."

Challenger Sue Wolstenholm, who works for the local Comcast office, is likewise positive about the district — indeed, wants its successes told more readily — but decries the fact that "the culture in our district seems to be one of fear and intimidation."

That's a problem she lays squarely at the feet of the current School Board and administration led by Superintendent Grenita Lathan.

Repeatedly during the forum, Wolstenholm criticized the fact that district matters had been discussed "behind closed doors" — from matters relating to land purchases, the Peoria Stadium imbroglio, the recent ISAT testing controversy at Charter Oak Primary School and even the routine consent agenda voted on at board meetings — and called for greater transparency.

Though she noted that she routinely and regularly met with constituents to take questions and discuss controversial matters — something Wolstenholm agreed was the case — Petelle said that not every discussion was able to take place in public.

"A lot of the things that are discussed behind closed doors are discussed behind closed doors because that is the law," she said. "That's not something a candidate for School Board will be able to change."

The pair also differed in their reaction to Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis' comments last month during his State of the City address that there is a widespread perception that education in Peoria isn't going in the right direction.

"It doesn't look good when people look online or read our papers about out school district," Wolstenholm said. "We want to promote the good. But it also brings to the forefront that there are problems here that need to be fixed. We need to communicate, we need to work together.

"None of this is easy, and it takes more than one person to do this," she said. "I think together, everyone, if we all get involved, if we all keep at it, we all can make a great school district."

Petelle said the mayor's comments crossed the line, though.

"I think his comments were wholly inappropriate," she said. "I think he continues to say that he wants to work with District 150 and then runs District 150 down at every opportunity. And he followed it up the next day by talking about how great Dunlap is, Dunlap (District) 323, for the city of Peoria.

Page 2 of 2 - "If he does not want to be mayor of the city that has District 150 in it, then that is certainly his choice," she said. "If he wants to be mayor of Peoria, he needs to be working with District 150, working with us on these issues that affect all of us, particularly on issues like maintenance of sidewalks near our buildings, public safety, safety of our neighborhoods. There are things the city can do for the district, and the city has not expressed a great deal of interest in that."

Both candidates said it should be up to voters to decide — as they will March 18 — whether or not to impose an additional 1 percent sales tax in Peoria County to help fund school facilities.

Their contest on March 18 is a direct election rather than a primary and will appear on any ballot — Democrat, Republican or nonpartisan — that voters living within the board's District 3 choose. That territory includes homes north of Forrest Hill Avenue.

Chris Kaergard can be reached at 686-3135 or ckaergard@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisKaergard.